Camouflage
by aelitacodelyoko
Summary: Aelita has been on Earth for a few months now, but a virus still keeps the gang from turning off the supercomputer. Searching for the antivirus begins consuming all of Jeremie's free time, even now that Aelita is here on Earth. What will become of Aelita and Jeremie?
1. Tacos

Camouflage

Chapter 1: Tacos

It had been almost 3 months since Aelita had joined Kadic Academy. Things were finally settling down. The students were adjusting to Aelita's presence in the classroom, and Aelita was getting used to life on earth. Her friends had been helping her to get over the first rough patch. Now, things were finally becoming the way she had always imagined. She was excelling in her classes, getting along with her friends, and enjoying life outside of Lyoko. Even after discovering that she was still linked to Lyoko and they couldn't shut of the supercomputer yet, her happiness did not dwindle. She was happy to be out of Lyoko even temporarily and to spend time with her friends, even if it meant going back every once and a while to stop Xana's latest scheme.

They were just finishing up with the last attack. Xana had attempted to set the entire school on fire, suffocating the Lyoko warriors in the process. Odd and Ulrich were still stuck in Kadic, trying to stay calm and get as far away from the fire as possible.

"Hurry, Odd! This way!" Ulrich shouted. He motioned towards the doors at the front of the building.

Odd nodded and motioned for the rest of the students to follow Ulrich. "You heard the man!"

Sissi, Nicholas, Herve, Tamiya, Mathieus, and Heidi followed after Ulrich with Odd bringing up the rear.

"Go on! What are you waiting for!?" Sissi squealed, watching Ulrich push on the door to no avail. "Come on, Ulrich!"

"I can't," his voice rang out in desperation. "The door won't budge!"

"Move out of the way!" Odd cried as he ran full force towards the door. They all scrambled as he smacked into the glass. "Oof." Odd hit the door hard, but still nothing. He grabbed his head as he slid down to the floor. "Heh Heh." He laughed awkwardly and looked up at Ulrich. "You're right, Ulrich. It is stuck," he said trying to get onto his wobbly legs. "Got any other ideas?"

Ulrich stared down the hall at the fire raging in the distance. "Let's just hope Yumi and Aelita are having better luck than we are," he muttered. Looking to his left, he saw a row of lockers. "In the mean time, let's see if we can move those between us and the fire."

"Well don't just stand there!" Sissi blurted out after a few seconds, looking at Nicholas and Herve. "Help him!"

-m-

"Hurry, Aelita!" Jeremie's voice came through to Yumi and Aelita who were currently running toward a tower in the forest region.

Yumi and Aelita picked up the pace, almost sprinting. Yumi aimed and threw her fan at the final kankrelat crawling toward them. The fan made an impact right before the bug-like creature could fire its laser.

"Ok, Aelita," Yumi started. "That was the last of them. Go!" She slowed down and watched as Aelita ran forward toward the tower.

"Aelita, look out!" Jeremie's voice rang out from above as the scyphozoa came around the tower blocking her path.

Aelita slowed to a stop and stared at the creature's tentacles, frozen in fear.

"Not this time!" Yumi shouted and threw both of her fans, slicing off the arms that were reaching for Aelita. As the scyphozoa backed away, Yumi approached Aelita. "You ok?"

Aelita gave a quick nod before she ran and disappeared into the tower, fazing through the wall.

Aelita slowly walked to the center of the platform. The lines on the floor began to glow and she was raised to the second level. Placing her hand on the screen brought up the all-familiar words: _Aelita. Code: Lyoko_. Suddenly all the files floating around the sides of the tower rushed toward the bottom.

Jeremie smiled as he saw the tower deactivate on his screen. "Yes! You did it, Aelita. Are you ready for a trip to the past?" Without waiting for a reply, he pressed the keys and a bright flash of light appeared, spreading out from the factory and reaching all the way to Kadic Academy, where the fire was frozen in its rage. "Return to the past now."

-m-

"Now that the doors were unlocked, do you really think it was necessary to take a return trip to the past?" Ulrich asked as Jeremie walked over to where he and Odd were sitting on a bench in the middle of Campus.

"You can't be too careful with that kind of thing, Ulrich," Jeremie said as his shook his head. Aelita and Yumi were at his side. "What if the firemen couldn't have gotten you out in time? It was just too risky. I wouldn't want something to happen to you guys."

"I don't know, Jeremie," Odd interrupted. "Have you forgotten that going back in time increases Xana's power? We were there. We could have let you know if things got too out of control."

"Things were already too out of control! The building was on fire, Odd!" Jeremie shouted, catching the attention of a couple students in the quad. "I did what I had to do."

"Alright, simmer down, you two," Yumi interjected, stepping between them. The two girls who had glanced over at Jeremie returned to their conversation. "It may have been risky, but we do take risks every day. I think Odd might be right on this one. We need to use the return to the past only in case of emergencies."

"And I'm telling you, Yumi, this was an emergency!" he shouted then turned away from the group. "Oh, never mind! I'll be in my room if you need me."

"Jeremie, wait!" Aelita called after him, reaching out her hand. She just missed his shoulder as he continued to storm off towards his room. She sighed.

"Don't worry, Aelita. He'll calm down by dinner. You'll see." Yumi placed her hand on Aelita's shoulder almost restraining her from following after him. "Just let him go for now."

Aelita let out one more sigh, watching Jeremie turn in to the dorm building. "Well, alright. We should probably get to class, anyway."

"Oh yuck!" Odd shouted. "Math class again! I knew there was another reason not to go back in time."

"Oh, come on, Odd," Ulrich laughed. "At least you might know some of the answers this time."

"Very funny, Ulrich, but I'll have you know I did know some of the answers already," Odd said with a huff.

"That's not what your quiz grade told me," Ulrich laughed again, causing Aelita and Yumi to laugh too.

"Alright. Alright. This time I can redeem myself. Come on, Aelita. Time to take the quiz again. Although, I'm sure you did great the first time." Odd turned to head towards class. "See you later, Yumi."

"I'll meet you guys at dinner," she said and turned toward her own class. Waving at William who was waiting for her by the door.

Ulrich watched as she walked toward him. Although he wasn't sure, it seemed like William was a little more smug than usual. As Yumi reached him, he gave a sly smile to Ulrich and put his hand around Yumi's waist for a few seconds, allowing her to go into the classroom before him.

"Come on, Ulrich!" Odd called from several feet away.

Ulrich scowled and turned his back on William, starting toward Mrs. Meyer's class for the second time today.

-m-

"Horray! Spaghetti and meatballs, I'm starved!" Odd cried at he entered the cafeteria for dinner. It sure is a disappointment that Xana couldn't let us relive mealtime twice instead of math class."

"Don't you ever think about anything but your stomach?" Ulrich asked as they went through the line.

"No way!" Odd put his tray out. "What do you say, Rosa? How about a double helping?" A huge grin spread out across Odd's face.

"You know the rules." Rosa looked down at him and scooped out one helping, putting it onto his tray.

"Oh come on. Just this once?" He gave her another, more sincere smile. Aelita began to laugh as Rosa scowled at him.

"Keep it moving, DellaRobbia," she stated flatly and turned toward Aelita, placing a helping on her tray. Odd sighed.

The three grabbed their trays and headed over to the table where Yumi was already sitting. "So what's the verdict? Did Odd pass math this time around?" Yumi asked with a smirk as the placed their trays on the table, Ulrich next to Yumi and Odd and Aelita across from them.

"I got a 72, thank you very much," Odd announced with a bite of spaghetti already in his mouth.

Aelita laughed. "Well at least it was an improvement. Although, you'd think after two classes you would have absorbed more."

"Very funny, Aelita, but I'm an artist, not a sponge. I can't be troubled with things like math class. It's not in my blood," Odd announced as if he were actually a suffering artist.

"Well, bravo, Mr. Artist," Ulrich said with a small laugh. "Maybe next time you'll actually study."

Yumi and Aelita smiled at each other from across the table. "So, how's our princess doing today? Getting used to being an earthling?" Yumi asked and took another bite of spaghetti.

"Surprisingly, yes. It's getting harder to believe that I've only been here for a few months. I still can't get over the smells though," Aelita paused to take a big whiff of her garlic bread, "or the tastes." She took a bite, closed her eyes, and smiled before swallowing.

Ulrich laughed. "Well, if you think the cafeteria food tastes so good, you should try some real food sometime."

"Oh, come on, Ulrich," Odd interrupted. "The spaghetti is great. If you don't want it I'll take yours." He looked over at Ulrich's tray with a wolfish grin. Ulrich pushed his half-eaten tray in Odd's direction. Odd quickly grabbed it and began to chow down.

"We're definitely glad to have you here, Aelita," Yumi said with a smile, "and Ulrich's right. We really should go out sometime to a real restaurant. We could get some real noodles, or we could get something completely different. Is there anything you've wanted to try?"

Aelita took a second to think of the different foods she had tried and others that she had only heard of. Her mind wandered from pasta to seafood to sushi to other cultures and cuisines. Eventually her mind strayed even further, back to Lyoko and a late night conversation with Jeremie.

-m-

 _"I'm sorry, Aelita. I missed dinner," Jeremie said through a mouthful of food, his face glowing in the screen._

 _"What are you eating?" Aelita asked._

 _"They're tacos: a concoction of beef, lettuce, tomato, and cheese served in a tortilla. Sometimes they're hard and sometimes they're soft. These ones are soft," he explained._

 _"Are those better?" she asked again, her questions genuine. She knelt down in front of the screen anxious for more information about Earth._

 _"I like them better," Jeremie said after another bite. "They aren't as messy as the hard shells. These ones are easier to eat." She smiled and nodded. "When I finally find the key to materialization, you can try them both and see which one you like better."_

 _"That sounds wonderful, Jeremie. I can't wait to taste all of the food your world has to offer."_

-m-

"Tacos," she said finally. "I think I want some tacos."

"Alright," Yumi smiled, "we can get some tacos for dinner tomorrow." She turned to Ulrich and Odd. Odd was finishing Ulrich's tray of spaghetti while Ulrich watched. "Do either of you know a good taco place?"

Before Ulrich of Odd could answer, Aelita jumped in. "I think Jeremie knows of one." She glanced around as if just now noticing that he wasn't there. "Have you seen him?"

Both of them shook their heads. "Not since he stormed off before class," Odd muttered through his last bite of food. "Didn't he say he would be sulking in his room? Funny, because that's usually your job, Ulrich." Odd laughed.

"Very funny, Odd," Ulrich said sarcastically with a slight glare.

Upon hearing their negative response, Aelita got up and pushed in her chair. "I think I'll just go check on him." She grabbed her tray and walked it over to the belt with the rest of the dirty dishes before anyone could stop her or offer to go with her. After several months at Kadic, she knew the way to Jeremie's room by heart. She exited the cafeteria and entered the dorm building, heading up the stairs, down the hallway, and stopping at Jeremie's room. She paused at the door and knocked. With no answer, she knocked again. After hearing no response a second time she tried the handle. The room was unlocked, so she opened it slightly.

"Hello?" she asked hesitantly through the crack in the door.

"Oh, it's you, Aelita," Jeremie replied without turning around. "Come in. I was just working on research for your antivirus. You'd be surprised what Franz Hopper has in his diary."

"You missed dinner, but there's still time if you want to go get some. It's spaghetti and meatballs," Aelita said, switching the subject.

"That's ok. I'm really deep into this right now. I don't want to lose my train of thought. There's a whole section here about the materialization process. There has to be something about the antivirus. I'll send you the data and you can help me. That would really speed up the process."

"Aren't you hungry? I'm sure the antivirus can wait."

Jeremie paused for a second and spun around in his chair. "Xana doesn't wait. Don't you want to be free from the supercomputer?"

Aelita sat down on Jeremie's bed. She grasped the covers in her hand, what had become almost a nervous habit for her. "You know I do, but that doesn't mean you need to forgo eating."

"I'll be ok," he said with a small smile and turned back to his screen. "I'll get something out of a vending machine later. I'm not really hungry right now. Go grab your laptop. I'll send you the data."

Aelita sighed slightly and got up to leave. She paused at the door and turned back around. "Yumi suggested going out for tacos tomorrow night for dinner. Do you remember where you got those tacos you were telling me about?"

"Hmm? Tacos?" Jeremie murmured without turning around. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you remember? You were working on the materialization program a couple months ago and had skipped dinner. You had soft tacos."

Jeremie continued typing for a beat or two. "Hmm, probably El Patron, but I don't really remember."

"Well, would you go with us tomorrow night?" Aelita asked.

"Sure," he said absentmindedly and continued typing, his hands moving furiously across the keyboard. "I'm sure it's here somewhere," he muttered under his breath.

Aelita turned to the door and headed back to her room.

* * *

 **It's been a while since I've posted anything.**

 **Let me know what you think - Please Review.**


	2. Sector 5

Camouflage

Chapter 2: Sector 5

Aelita sat on Jeremie's bed, typing. They had been working on the antivirus research for several hours.

"Ok, I defragmented that last string of code. I'm sending you the results," Aelita stated, breaking the silence that had been building up for the last hour. She closed out of her window and shut her laptop.

"That's it, Aelita. I got it. I think this really could be the key," Jeremie said with excitement and spun around to face her. "All I need is a few more access codes from sector 5, and I think it's ready!"

"That's great, Jeremie!" Aelita said with a smile. "Wait until we tell the others!"

"Well, let's go then!" he turned back to his computer and shut down a couple of the programs he had been using. When he turned back around the look on Aelita's face had changed. "What's wrong, Aelita?"

"Jeremie, it's 1 am. Don't you think this can wait until morning? I'm sure everyone's asleep and, besides, you still haven't eaten anything. Why don't you get something to eat, and we'll go to the factory first thing tomorrow morning?" Aelita suggested, her eyes beginning to droop as she strained to stay awake longer.

Jeremie saw the exhaust on her face and sighed. "But what if Xana attacks before we get the information we need?"

"Well, what's one more activated tower? I'm sure we can stop him. Let's get some rest." She got up from the bed and moved to the door, opening it just a crack to make sure Jim wasn't nearby. "I'll see you in the morning," she whispered before she disappeared out the door.

-m-

"So you're saying this could be our final mission to Lyoko?" Ulrich asked, standing next to Jeremie's chair. They had all gathered at the factory first thing in the morning. Odd was sprawled on the ground, still trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep.

"That's it precisely," Jeremie stated. "With this last bit of information, I should be able to fix Aelita's virus and we can shut down the super computer!"

"Well that's great. Let's get going!" Yumi announced.

Ulrich nudged Odd in the side. "Come on, Odd."

"Just five more minutes," he mumbled and rolled over.

"Let's go." Ulrich grabbed his arm and lifted him off the ground and onto his feet. "You can sleep through science. It's not like you haven't done that before."

Aelita and Yumi chuckled from the elevator as Ulrich and Odd joined them.

The elevator arrived at the scanner room and the team was quickly virtualized into the ice sector. "The edge isn't too far from here. It's just south of where you are now."

Upon reaching the landing, the transporter arrived, taking them to sector 5.

"You're getting faster at this, Jeremie," Odd announced as they arrived arena. "We hardly had to wait for the transporter."

"Ok, focus. The door will open up any second, and then you have three minutes to find the key," Jeremie's voice rang out.

Suddenly the door opened up and the four Lyoko warriors followed the passage to the core zone. This time the room was completely empty with the exception of moving platforms on the ceiling. The key was easily visible on the other side of the large expanse in front of them. The group made an abrupt stop at the edge of the void.

"Oh, great! How do we get to the key now?" Odd asked exasperatedly.

"No one said Xana was going to make it easy for us," Ulrich stated. "Looks like he also sent us a welcoming committee." He pointed to the platforms on the ceiling where three creepers had slithered up to great them.

"How'd they even get up there?" Odd asked, more frustrated than actually questioning. He turned toward the closest one and aimed. "Laser arrow!" The arrow flew just to the right of the creeper in question.

"I have a crazy idea," Aelita said and turned toward Yumi who was blocking the shot from the creepers overhead. "I'm going to need your help if this doesn't work." She eyed the creepers and the platforms on the ceiling and looked back toward the key.

"Aelita, what are you thinking?" Jeremie called out to her.

"Just trust me on this." Aelita eyed the ceiling once more and took a big leap off the end of the platform. Just as she believed her idea was wrong and was about to call for Yumi, it turned out she was right. Rather than plummeting down into the nothingness below her, she soared into the air and landed on the moving platform overhead. She took a second to adjust herself to the change in gravity before swiftly moving across the platforms on the ceiling.

"Great going, Aelita!" Odd shouted and jumped off the edge after her. He landed almost gracefully on the platform overhead. "Laser arrow!" This time he hit his mark. The creeper blocking Aelita's path exploded, leaving room for Aelita to make it across.

"Only 30 more seconds," Jeremie announced.

Aelita leapt off the final floating platform and fell back toward the ground, flipping in midair to right herself with the new gravity. Yumi's fan hit the final creeper as Aelita ran to the far wall and hit the key, stopping the countdown. As the key receded into the wall, a floor appeared. Odd fell from the ceiling, landing on his hands and rolling into a summersault.

"Good work, Aelita. Head for the celestial dome. Once I get those access codes, it'll be 'bye-bye, Xana' for good," Jeremie's voice rang out.

"Well I guess cats don't always land on their feet," Ulrich said with a laugh as he reached Odd. Yumi smiled and headed after Aelita toward the elevator.

"Very funny, Ulrich," Odd muttered and ran after Yumi, "but at least I took out a monster!"

-m-

"Jeremie, I'm in. It will take me a minute to find the access codes you're looking for," Aelita stated as she began tapping her fingers to the holopad in front of her.

"How about some vehicles, Jeremie?" Ulrich asked looking up at the celestial dome. From where he was standing, he could see the outer wall splitting open. A nest of mantas was about to hatch. "Things are about to get hairy around here."

"No problem. Here are your vehicles," Jeremie announced.

The overboard, overwing, and overbike materialized around the edge of the platform. Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich ran to their respective vehicles, reaching them just in time to greet the mantas.

"Don't worry. We've got your back, princess," Odd said and winked at Aelita before he rushed off on his board, dodging the mantas' lasers.

"Hee-Yaah!" Yumi yelled and threw her fan at the manta in front of her. It stuck dead center, exploding upon impact.

"Nice work, Yumi," Jeremie announced. "Look out behind you guys. Three more mantas heading your way."

"As if we didn't already have enough guests," Ulrich muttered. He turned quickly and rode under one of the new mantas slicing it open from the underside. "That's one more down." He turned to assess the situation. Yumi was following one manta to his left side. Aelita seemed focused at the holopad, hopefully making progress, but safe in any case. To his right, Odd was being chased by the remaining three mantas. He turned in Odd's direction just in time to see one of the lasers hit the overboard. The board began to glitch and then disappeared beneath Odd's feet. Ulrich accelerated toward Odd, catching him before he reached the bottom of the celestial dome. "Did you need a lift?"

"I can always use a good taxi every now and then," Odd said with a shrug and began firing behind him. After missing the first two mantas, his laser arrow finally struck the third. "Yeah-ah!"

Ulrich turned back toward the platform where Aelita was standing. Upon reaching its edge, Odd leapt off, and Ulrich sped away.

"How's it going, princess?" he asked anxiously. "How much longer?"

"I've just about got it. Only a little bit farther," Aelita stated calmly, her hands continuing to peruse through the data on the digital screen.

Yumi let out a yell as a laser hit her in the back. Odd looked up to see the manta was now chasing her instead of the other way around.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd shouted. The arrows flew past the manta, striking the back wall of the celestial dome. The mantas turned and began firing at Odd and Aelita.

"Nice going, Odd!" Ulrich shouted and rushed to block the barrage of lasers. Yumi threw her fan and hit one of the distracted mantas, leaving only two. One continued firing down on Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita. The other began its path toward Yumi. "Yumi, look out!"

The manta that was chasing Yumi fired several arrows, one striking Yumi in the chest. Yumi's image pixilated and disappeared. The overwing spun out of control and plummeted to the platform, landing at Odd's right.

"How much longer, Aelita?" Odd asked, jumping out of the way of another blast of lasers.

"No time at all," She replied and tapped the screen one final time. "I'm finished. You can take over now, Jeremie."

"Alright. I'll open a tunnel to the mountain sector and bring you all home. Do you think the overwing is good enough to make the journey?"

Aelita ran over to the overwing and pulled it upright. "It looks alright, Jeremie."

"Then get going," he replied.

Aelita hopped on the overwing and looked back toward Odd. "Are you coming?" she asked with a wink.

Odd shrugged and fired a few more arrows at the mantas before running over to Aelita. He looked back for another second before hopping on behind her. He placed his hands on her waist, and she took off. They met up with Ulrich as the tunnel opened, and they turned and disappeared together.

-m-

"Odd, can you keep your stomach quiet?" Ulrich muttered.

"Well if I had gotten breakfast, this wouldn't be a problem," Odd whispered.

The rest of the class was busy taking notes on the Black Plague and spread of disease throughout Europe. Mr. Fumet paused his lecture and glanced at Ulrich and Odd. Just then, Odd's stomach let out a huge grumble. The whole class laughed.

"If you boys would like to disturb my lesson by missing breakfast, I would suggest you do it in the principals office. Maybe that will give you some time to think about how to get up early enough to eat. I never would have expected this out of you, DellaRobbia."

"Sorry, sir," Odd grumbled and got up. Ulrich followed him out.

-m-

"Slow down, Odd. You're eating like it's going to disappear," Jeremie said.

"Haha," Odd said after he swallowed his mouthful. "I'll be happy to remind you that we missed breakfast because of you this morning. It's not my fault I'm starving."

"We needed to get the codes from Sector 5," Aelita interrupted. "If anyone is to blame here, it's Xana."

"Thank you, Aelita," Jeremie stated and smiled.

"Yeah, well, I guess we can thank Xana for our detentions too," Ulrich groveled.

"You two got detention?" Yumi asked, looking up from her plate and over to Ulrich. "What for? I thought you made it back in time for class."

"Yeah, well, Odd's breakfast didn't, and his stomach couldn't keep quiet," Ulrich glared toward Odd who was finishing his plate of spaghetti less than gracefully. Yumi and Aelita giggled and looked toward Odd.

"A guy's gotta eat. I can't help it if my stomach acted up," Odd stated and took his final bite. "Besides, there was no reason for Mr. Delmas to give us detention just for missing breakfast."

"How much did you get?" Aelita asked nervously.

"Just an hour," Odd started, "but it's with Jim in the library."

"Oh good," she replied with a smile.

"I know you like libraries and learning and books and whatnot, but I don't see how any of this is _good_ ," Odd replied.

"I'm just glad you'll be out in time for dinner," Aelita stated.

"Now that's a girl after my own heart!" Odd said and smiled. "Good thinking, Aelita. Dinner is the most important meal of the day."

"I thought that was breakfast," Ulrich laughed.

"That's where you're wrong, good buddy," Odd retorted. "Dinner is by far the biggest meal, which obviously makes it the best."

"Well, regardless of being the best meal or not, I think she was hoping you guys would be free because we're going out for tacos. Weren't you, Aelita?" Yumi asked.

Aelita smiled and nodded. "I'm glad we all get to hang out and do something other than fight Xana."

"It does seem like we've been doing that a lot lately, but as soon as I finish adding these codes to my program, it will be 'hello, antivirus, bye-bye, Xana,'" Jeremie stated giving his laptop a firm pat. "While you guys are in detention, I think I'll head back to the factory to work on it."

"But first, it's time for math class! Let's go, Einstein!" Odd laughed and got up from the table followed by Aelita and then Jeremie.

Ulrich hung back for an extra second, pausing to wait for Yumi.

"Did you need something, Ulrich?" Yumi asked as she stood up with her tray. They walked together to put their trays away and paused by the door.

Ulrich looked across the way to where Odd was waiting for him. He knew he had to say something now or not at all. "You've been, uh, hanging out with William quite a bit lately, and, uh, I was just wondering if anything was going on, erm, between you two," Ulrich finally stammered out. Yumi looked at Ulrich with a slightly confused face before answering.

"Between me and William? No not really. Why?"

The image of William placing his arm around Yumi entered his mind. He balled his hands into fists. He looked back toward Odd who was motioning him to hurry up. "I was just wondering since, well…," he trailed off, unable to find the words he wanted to say.

"Look, Ulrich, can this wait? We need to get to class. I'll talk to you after detention, ok?" she said with a smile.

"Yeah, ok," he muttered. Yumi walked away toward the science building, leaving Ulrich to head toward Odd.

"What took you so long? Jeremie and Aelita went on without us," Odd stated. "Did you finally ask her out?" Odd smiled.

"No, I didn't ask her out," Ulrich said defensively. His hands were still clinched. "Let's just get going before we're late."

* * *

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	3. Dinner

Camouflage

Chapter 3: Dinner

As the bell rang, Ulrich, Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie exited class together and turned toward the library.

"Ulrich, dear! Wait for me!" a shrill voice called after them.

"Oh great. It's Sissi," Ulrich muttered. Odd looked at him with a "kill me" face. Ulrich chuckled and kept moving. Sissi ran up to his left.

"Hey! Where are you going in such a rush?" Sissi asked.

"While it just so happens that it's none of your business, I'll be happy to inform you that Odd and I have a date," Ulrich replied curtly.

"Whhaaaatt?" Sissi squawked. "Y-you're gay? But but what about Yumi?"

Odd laughed dramatically, and even Jeremie and Aelita giggled. "It just so happens it's a double date with Jim," Odd spit out.

"Oh, it's detention," she groaned. "Well, I'll walk with you."

"As a matter of fact, I'd rather not," Ulrich replied as if it were a question. "Detention is torture enough as it is."

"Ugh," Sissi grunted and stopped in her tracks. Herve appeared by her side.

"Don't worry, Sissi. I'll take a walk with you," he said with an awkward smile.

"Sure, great!" Sissi exclaimed sarcastically. "Here. Carry these." Sissi pushed all of her books into Herve's arms. Then she turned and huffed back toward her room, with Herve in tow.

-m-

"Stern, DellaRobbia, front and center!" Jim barked as they approached the library. He turned his head to see Aelita and Jeremie standing with them. "Stones, Belpois, what do you think you're doing here? You don't have detention. So don't think you'll be able to sit around and talk with your buddies. Get a move on!"

"But Jim, this is a public library. What if we came here to study?" Aelita asked, not really caring about being able to study in the library and more trying to push his buttons.

Jim was taken aback a bit. His face took on that of confusion, but slowly merged into that of confidence. "No no, you aren't going to pull a fast one on 'ol Jimbo," he said and wagged his finger at them. "You two can study in your rooms. Stern. DellaRobbia." He gestured to Odd and Ulrich to move into the library and take a sit at the table.

Jeremie and Aelita chuckled to themselves. "Don't worry, we were just leaving," Jeremie said calmly. "See you later, you guys."

"Yeah, yeah," Ulrich murmured and followed Odd into the library. Jim followed in after Ulrich and shut the doors behind him.

"Well I guess we can go to the factory now," Jeremie stated. "We should be able to finish up the research before dinner. And then," Jeremie paused and hesitated, slightly blushing, "then you'll be free of Xana forever."

"I'll be really human," Aelita whispered. She smiled and took Jeremie's free hand. She squeezed it gently. Jeremie fully blushed and wiggled free of Aelita's hand.

"Uh, l-let's go," Jeremie stammered.

-m-

Aelita sat on the floor a little ways from Jeremie who was sitting at the supercomputer's monitor. Her legs extended out in front of her and crossed at her ankles. She quickly typed on her laptop, which was sitting in her lap.

"I just finished defragmenting the last stand of the genetic matrix," Aelita announced with a tap of the keys. "It's all ready to go."

"Did you search for bugs?" Jeremie asked curtly, tapping away on his own keyboard.

"No," Aelita replied. "I haven't run any tests yet."

"I can't do everything myself. I'm sure you can run a simple test," Jeremie stated without turning around.

Jeremie's words fell cold in the room. Without replying, Aelita pulled up a compiler on her screen and began a test run of the program. It quickly began to scan for any problems in the file.

A loud beep began emanating from the room. "Ugh! What is it now?" Jeremie groaned. "This is the fourth test run and I still haven't gotten it right!"

"There's no need to get upset, Jeremie," Aelita cooed. "Materialization didn't happen in a night. I'm sure you'll figure this out."

"I just need to de…" Jeremie trailed off into a murmur. He talked to himself quietly, but Aelita couldn't make out what he was saying over his furious typing. Aelita sighed and continued to watch her screen flick rapidly through sections of code.

After fifteen minutes or so, the scan came to a halt. "Ok, Jeremie, I've finished the scan. The code doesn't have any bugs," Aelita announced. "I'm sending it to you now."

"I got it. It'll take me a few minutes to add it to the larger program," Jeremie replied.

"Well what should I do in the meantime?" Aelita asked, hoping to at least get something more entertaining to work on.

"Nothing for now. Just wait and see what happens." Jeremie continued typing and groaned a couple of times.

Aelita sighed and leaned back against the wall, letting her mind stray from what they were doing to what they would hopefully be doing in a few hours. _Just a few more hours and we can relax. We haven't hung out in such a long time. Xana always intervenes. Maybe it's a good thing that he just finished an attack yesterday. Maybe he will give us a break._ Her mind drifted further from the work in front of her and toward the last time they had a night to themselves. It was a night not too long after she had first been materialized.

-m-

 _"Come on, you guys! We're going to miss the movie!" Odd called back at her. He raced off toward the gymnasium where Yumi and Ulrich were already waiting for them._

 _Aelita was walking next to Jeremie. She waved acknowledgement to Odd and gave a small laugh, but made no effort to hasten her pace. She was content walking with Jeremie. The weather was getting cooler as the sun went down. She shivered slightly, but smiled. She was beginning to love the sensations of her new world._

 _"I'm so glad we get to spend the whole night together." Aelita turned toward Jeremie. "It's my first movie."_

 _He nodded. "That's right, Aelita. Too bad it couldn't be something more intellectually stimulating than 'Dr. Zekna's ghost,'" he replied._

 _She chuckled and took his hand in hers. "That's ok," she stated. "I'm happy to see anything with you."_

 _They had reached the door to the gymnasium. They looked inside and found the others sitting in the front row. Odd saved them two seats next to him. He waved for them to hurry. Aelita smiled and dropped Jeremie's hand to wave back. Jeremie blushed, recovered his composure, and followed Aelita to their saved seats._

 _Yumi turned to them from the other side of Ulrich and Odd. "I'm glad you could make it, princess. We thought it would be best for you to have the real movie experience," she said with a smile and handed Aelita a large bucket of popcorn. Odd eyed the bucket with envy as it passed over his lap. "Just try not to let Odd's fifty stomachs steal it all." Aelita giggled._

 _"Hey! I can't help it if I'm hungry and she's got a tasty treat shoved in my face," Odd cried defensively._

 _"Would you keep it down?" Ulrich hushed. "The movie is starting."_

 _Odd slunk back into his chair and crossed his arms. Aelita turned to him and leaned in. "Don't worry, Odd," she whispered. "I'll share. I couldn't possibly eat all of this myself."_

 _Odd's face lit up and he stuck his arm deep into the popcorn bucket, pulling out a huge fistful. "You're the best, Aelita!"_

-m-

"Aelita? Aelita!" Jeremie called, waking her from her daydream. "Did you hear anything I just said?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Jeremie. I was just thinking. Could you repeat it?"

Jeremie sighed. "I think I finished the program. All I need to do is let it compile for a couple hours and it should be good to go," Jeremie repeated. "That is, if there are no bugs this time."

Aelita perked up. "That's great, Jeremie. That means it'll be ready after dinner! What time is it anyway?" She pulled out her phone. "5:50 already? Ulrich and Odd got out of detention over an hour ago. Have we really been here that long?"

Jeremie nodded and yawned. "Time sure goes fast when you're programing."

"Let's get going. It's almost time for dinner," Aelita said excitedly. She hopped up and walked swiftly to the elevator.

Jeremie laughed. "If I didn't know any better, I would have confused you with Odd."

Aelita rolled her eyes and pushed the button to close the elevator.

-m-

"What took you guys so long?" Ulrich asked as Jeremie and Aelita opened the door to his and Odd's room.

"Jeremie and I finished the program for my antivirus!" Aelita chimed with excitement.

"Well, almost finished," Jeremie interjected. "It's still compiling. I may have to do another debugging session, but it does look promising."

"So you'll finally be one of us! That's great, Aelita!" Odd cheered and patted Aelita on the back. She blushed and nodded.

"We're going back to the factory after dinner. You can all come, and we can test out the program," Aelita said with a smile.

"Well, it looks like this will be a night for you to remember, Aelita," Yumi chimed in. "What are we standing around here for? Let's go get some tacos."

"Great! I'm starved!" Odd cheered.

-m-

The five arrived at El Patron and were seated without much wait. It was a quaint restaurant with only a few tables scattered around with mitch-matched chairs. On the left side of the restaurant was a bar that opened up into a patio. The quintet was seated on the patio in the back corner at a small round table. Aelita eyed the menu with a curious and eager gaze.

"What are you going to get, princess?" Yumi asked.

"I don't know. I want to get some kind of tacos, but there are just so many options. Jeremie, what would you suggest?" she asked and leaned over toward him.

"What about this 'create-your-own' taco platter? That way you can try several kinds," he replied, pointing at it on his menu.

"That sounds great." Aelita eyed the option with a smile. It felt wonderful to be hanging out with her friends without the stress of a Xana attack. "What are you all going to get?"

"Well I for one was looking at 'El Mexicano,'" Odd announced.

"Odd, you do realize that's a jumbo burrito, 2 tacos, and three sides?" Ulrich asked. "Where are you gonna put all of that food with such a scrawny body?"

"I'll have you know, I'm not scrawny," Odd started.

"You're svelte," Aelita and Yumi chimed in and began to laugh. "We know."

"Ulrich's right though. Even for you, that's a lot of food," Yumi said.

"Well, if we hadn't gotten detention, I wouldn't have missed my afternoon snack. I'm starving," Odd groaned.

" _Odd_. In case you've forgotten, it was your stomach's fault for getting us into detention in the first place," Ulrich retorted.

"See! That's all the more reason to eat a hearty meal." Odd continued to eye his menu with desire.

-m-

"Are you ready to order?" the waitress asked as she arrived at the table. They all nodded.

They went one by one around the table. Aelita ordered the 'create-your-own' with a soft been and veggie taco, a soft chicken taco, and a crunchy beef taco, Odd chose 'El Mexicano.' Yumi ordered chicken enchiladas in a red sauce, Ulrich ordered a sizzling steak fajita, and Jeremie ordered two beef tacos. Once their orders were taken, it was not long before the waitress approached with chips and salsa. Odd dropped his menu and immediately began stuffing his face with the salty snacks.

"You better hurry, Aelita, or you won't be able to try any," Ulrich laughed as Odd popped another chip into his mouth. Aelita chuckled and grabbed a handful, placing them on one of the little plates provided by the waitress.

"It's not my fault these are so delicious," Odd replied in between bites, "and you guys can't keep up."

"Is that so, Odd?" Ulrich asked with a smirk on his face. "Is that a challenge?"

Odd raised his eyebrow at Ulrich and a sneaky grin formed across his face. "It is if you want to make it one." Yumi rolled her eyes.

"What's the wager?"

Odd thought to himself for a second. "If I can eat more chips than you in 30 seconds, you have to do my homework for a week," he replied.

"Yeah, ok, and when _I_ win?" Ulrich smiled.

" _If_ you win, I'll, uh, I'll by you a ticket to that concert you wanted to go to," Odd offered.

"Two tickets," Ulrich stated smoothly, never losing eye contact. "What's there to lose, if you're sure you'll win?"

Odd thought it over for a second. "Ok. You're on. Yumi, what are the rules?"

Yumi looked over at Odd like he had asked her to jump off a building. "No way. I'm not getting into this mess," she stated firmly.

Odd turned his gaze toward Aelita and raised an eyebrow. "What do you say, princess?"

"You guys are such idiots," she said with a laugh. "I'll do it."

"Yes!" Odd cheered. Jeremie rolled his eyes and began reading the deserts menu.

Aelita began dividing up the basket of chips in the center into two piles so that each person had an even number of chips and they were relatively the same in size. Then she grabbed two of the bowls of salsa and placed them next to the plates in front of them. "The rules are simple," she began. "Finish eating all of the chips and salsa before the other person. You can drink as much water as you need. You have to finish swallowing to be considered finished, and both your bowl and plate need to be empty."

"Sounds easy enough to me," Odd agreed.

"Well it better be easy. If it were any more complicated, you'd lose for sure," Ulrich chuckled.

"Alright, on 3," Aelita said with a smile. "One…two…THREE!"

They both dove at the piles in front of them. Odd took the chips by the handful and stuffed them in his mouth following each handful with a swig from his salsa bowl. Ulrich, on the other hand, took a more traditional approach: dunking each chip into the salsa before throwing them one by one into his own mouth. Odd's method seemed to be working for him. He started off strong with a large lead ahead of Ulrich. But once his mouth was full, it took him several seconds of chewing before he could swallow all of the salty chips he had shoved in there. Ulrich had less of a problem swallowing, having coated his chips in salsa prior to placing them in his mouth.

"Come on, Ulrich," Yumi whispered, finding it hard to resist cheering for their crazy competition.

Ulrich was in the final stretch, with only 4 more chips on his plate. Odd had far more on his plate, and it began to look like the race was over. Then, Odd picked up all of the chips and shoved them into his mouth at once, pouring the rest of the salsa in after them. Ulrich continued to scoop one by one, quickly catching up to Odd. It was a race to the swallow.

"Done!" Odd shouted and opened his mouth. Less than 10 seconds later, Ulrich finished his last chip with a sigh.

Aelita reviewed the results. "Odd has indeed proved himself victorious," she stated.

"Uh huh! That's right. He's the one. He's the only. He's Odd the magnificent!" Odd cheered followed by a crackle of laughter. Yumi and Aelita both laughed and half rolled their eyes at their crazy friend. "Now you have to do my math homework for a week."

"That may not be much of a prize," Jeremie interjected. "Have you forgotten that Ulrich's grades aren't much better than your own?"

Yumi and Aelita attempted to stifle their laughter.

"Yeah, yeah. Very funny, you guys. You'll be pleased to hear that I haven't been doing that bad in math this year," Ulrich rebutted, blushing slightly.

"Enough about that! It looks like our food is here!" Odd shouted, eyeing the food eagerly from across the restaurant.

Their waitress arrived with each of their plates. Odd's was larger and slightly fancier than the others. "Be careful. It's extra hot," the waitress warned before placing it in front of him.

Odd disregarded the warning and began shoveling the beans and rice into his mouth.

"You would think he didn't just spend the last few minutes guzzling chips and salsa," Jeremie murmured to Aelita who chuckled glancing at Odd.

She smiled and looked around at her friends. Yumi and Ulrich were chatting about each other's plates. Odd's face was stuffed full of food. Jeremie was methodically folding up his taco so that the contents would stay inside properly. It wasn't a remarkable sight. In fact, most people would find it rather ordinary. Aelita, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying herself. She hadn't been out with her friends much, and it was finally starting to feel normal. She almost forgot that it had ever been another way. She picked up one of her tacos and tasted it for the first time. The savory chicken blended with the sweet corn and tomatoes. The crunch of the lettuce countered the soft tortilla. It was a sensation she could not remember ever having before.

"Well, Aelita," Yumi began, noticing the bliss on Aelita's face. "Is it everything you imagined?"

Aelita knew Yumi was talking about the taco, but Aelita replied about much more. "It's better than I could have thought." She smiled again. The end of the night would come too soon.

"I'm glad," Yumi replied sincerely before turning back toward Ulrich who had begun to talk about his time in detention with Jim.

-m-

"Beeeeep. Beeeeep," the alarm sounded on Jeremie's laptop.

"You brought your laptop to dinner?" Aelita asked.

"Yeah, it looks like the program has stopped compiling," Jeremie replied after a few taps on the keyboard. "I should go check on it."

"What? Right now?" Aelita asked in shock. She felt her night of bliss slipping away slowly and back to reality. "But you haven't even finished eating. Just wait a little bit, and we can all go together," she said, trying to keep the illusion going as long as she could.

"Come on, Einstein," Odd interjected. "We're celebrating!"

"I don't think Aelita's first taco is really a cause for celebration, _Odd_ ," Jeremie replied curtly and stood up. "And, in case you forgot, this is _Xana_ we're talking about. Don't you want to find the antivirus and shut down the supercomputer?"

"Jeremie, we all want to get rid of Xana," Ulrich jumped in, "but can't the program wait until after we finish eating. Xana has been quiet today, and besides we're just talking about 30 more minutes."

"Xana doesn't wait 30 minutes for anything. Just meet me at the factory when you're finished," he huffed. Jeremie turned toward Aelita and paused. She looked down at her half-eaten plate of food, then back up at Jeremie. "Well, are you coming?"

"I just- I haven't even finished-," Aelita stammered out.

Jeremie pushed in his chair. He turned away from Aelita. "I'll be at the factory," he called behind him.

Aelita sighed and looked down at her food.

"What's got Jeremie wound so tightly lately?" Ulrich asked. "What's his problem?"

"I don't know about him, but the real problem here is who's going to pay for his meal!" Odd announced.

Aelita looked over at Jeremie's plate and back at Odd. His face was one of mock fear. She laughed, breaking the awkward tension at the table. "Not it!" she called.

Yumi and Ulrich looked at each other for half a second. "Not it!" they called simultaneously.

"Aww man! You guys!" Odd groaned. The rest of the table laughed.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

 **Please Review.**


	4. One of Us

Camouflage

Chapter 4: One of Us

Jeremie took a seat in front of the supercomputer and began typing. The chair slowly began to move, circling the large glowing replica of the sectors of Lyoko at the center of the room. Meanwhile, his computer screen loaded an image of Aelita in her Lyoko warrior outfit. A plus sign immerged at the base of her feet.

"It worked!" Jeremie exclaimed in surprise. "I can't believe it. It's actually operational!" He quickly began typing, pulling up more images of Aelita, zoomed into specific body parts. First appeared her arms, then her legs, then her torso, and finally her head. After a few more minutes of typing, a plus sign appeared on the arms, legs, and head. The torso on the other hand had a large exclamation point. The computer beeped in distress.

"Hmph," Jeremie muttered, continuing to type. "So the program passes the 98% threshold on all portions except her torso. Well that could just be a fluke…." He trailed off for a moment and brought up another screen with large amounts of code. His continued to type, his fingers quickly flicking from key to key.

"This must be it," he muttered to himself as he approached a particular line of code. "Maybe if I could reroute the system so that it passes through the genetic matrix one more time, it would pass the 98% threshold this time." He typed a few extra lines and clicked the compile button. The screen presented him with an estimated compile time of 25 minutes. "Not too bad," he muttered, thinking aloud. Then he leaned back in his chair and began to wait as the computer did its thing.

-m-

"So, I asked him what his position was at the Russian school for ballet," Odd continued, pausing to take another bite of his burrito. "And you know what he said?"

"I'd rather not talk about it?" Yumi asked with a smile.

Odd let out a huge laugh. "Yes!" He began an imitation of Jim, "Well, DellaRobbia, I'd rather not talk about it."

"Hey, that's pretty good!" Aelita said with a laugh. "I didn't know you did impressions."

"I'm a man of many talents," Odd said smugly.

Ulrich laughed. "Yeah, and modesty's not one of them." Yumi and Aelita both smiled at Ulrich, stifling their laughter.

"I'll have you know, Ulrich," Odd began, "that a guy like me doesn't need to be modest. You shouldn't sell yourself short when you're really the best around." Yumi and Aelita couldn't take it and began laughing out loud.

"Oh that's right. Odd, the magnificent," Ulrich murmured. "Well next time, maybe you can use one of your _many talents_ to get us out of detention."

"So, that's it then?" Aelita asked, turning her attention back toward Odd. "He wouldn't tell you anything else?"

"Bingo, Aelita. All we know is that me falling out of my chair reminded him of a time when he worked at the Russian school for ballet," Odd replied in disappointment. "I have a theory that he was a ballerina… or that he was a secret agent for the Russian government."

"Those are two quite different theories," Yumi said with skepticism.

Odd pointed his fork in her direction. "Well, Yumi," he began after taking another bite, "you can never quite pin the guy down. I think it could easily go either way. Besides, there's no harm in being prepared."

"Prepared for what?" she asked, preparing herself for another Odd answer.

"You know, prepared in case we have to hide from the Russian mafia when they come to find Jim. If he really was undercover for the Russian government, I'm sure there's someone after him, and we might as well be prepared for when the school is on lockdown or under attack." Odd emphasized his point with large arm gestures.

"Well, I think Xana gives us enough to deal with," Ulrich stated. "There's no need to add the Russian mafia into the mix."

"Speaking of Xana," Yumi began. "Do you think we should get going?"

"Yumi's right," Aelita seconded. She had almost forgotten that Jeremie had left. She was having so much fun eating and laughing with everyone. She turned her mind back toward Xana and Jeremie who was probably continuing to work on the antivirus. "We should get going."

Odd groaned. "Aww, man. I was hoping for dessert!"

Ulrich looked at him like he had grown another head. "You have to be kidding, right? You had at least twice as much as everyone else."

"It's not my fault that I'm hungry, Ulrich," Odd countered, "but, if it will make everyone happy, I'll wait and we can get ice cream later." Aelita smiled and shook her head. She really was having one of the best nights. Odd smiled back at her and stood up. "Alright then. Let's get going. I think we pay at the front."

-m-

The group arrived at the factory. The elevator opened revealing Jeremie sitting in the chair in front of the supercomputer. He was leaning back with his hands clasped in front of him.

"There you guys are," Jeremie started. "The program has been done for almost a half an hour now. I had time to run the program twice now."

"And…," Odd began, "does it work?"

"Yeah, Einstein," Ulrich added, "is Aelita really going to be one of us now?"

They gathered around the monitor, inquisitively. The screen looked promising. The image of Aelita was spinning on the screen. A large plus sign was displayed in the corner. It looked remarkably similar to the screen that showed that the materialization process was going to work. "It looks like it works!" Aelita exclaimed.

"That's right, Aelita. It sure does. We had a small problem with the code, but I fixed it and there doesn't seem to be any problems." Jeremie turned toward Aelita and pushed his glasses back up onto his nose. "All we have left to do is test it." He smiled. Aelita's heart filled with joy. This would really be the icing on the cake, a phrase she had just recently discovered for the feeling of greatness upon something already so wonderful. The night was getting better and better.

"Well, what are you waiting for, princess?" Odd asked. "Shall I escort you to the scanner room?" Aelita glowed and nodded.

Odd and Aelita headed to the scanner room while Jeremie booted the program. He pulled up several windows and began typing. Yumi and Ulrich hovered around him watching intently, but understanding very little. Finally, Jeremie put on his headset.

"Can you hear me, Aelita?" he asked.

"Loud and clear, Jeremie. Just let me know what to do," she replied.

"Ok. It will go just like we planned. On my order, you'll get in the scanner. Then, I'll run the program. The scanner should boot up and implant the antivirus into your genetic code. The process shouldn't take more than a minute or two."

"Won't that hurt?" Odd asked, shuddering at the word implant.

"The whole process should be quite painless, actually. It should be no worse than a trip to Lyoko," Jeremie's voice boomed in the scanner room.

"Easy for you to say," Odd said in exasperation. The trips to Lyoko weren't as easy as Jeremie always said they were.

Jeremie sighed and ignored him. "Are you ready, Aelita?"

Aelita turned toward Odd who gave her an encouraging double thumbs up and a smile. Aelita took a deep breath and smiled before giving her reply. "I'm ready, Jeremie."

"Go ahead."

Aelita took a step into the scanner and turned around to face Odd. He continued to smile at her as the doors began to close. Suddenly, she began to feel a surge of air and electricity flowing around her. The scanner was warming up and the blue light slowly began to move up the wall around her. She closed her eyes as the tube began to spin slowly and push more air into the enclosed space. After about two minutes, the air subsided and the light dimmed. Aelita stepped out of the scanner, feeling a little lightheaded but not too worse for wear.

"She's out, Jeremie," Odd shouted. "How do we know if it worked?"

"The best we can do is try to turn off the supercomputer. That is, whenever Aelita is ready." Jeremie's voice echoed through the scanner room.

Aelita was clutching her head. Odd walked over to her and placed a hand on her elbow for support. "Are you alright, princess?" he asked.

Aelita shook her head yes. She winced and then opened her eyes. "Let's do it," she stated softly. She smiled, trying to be brave. Inside she was worried. The last time they tried to turn off the supercomputer, it did not go well. Yet, something inside her was pushing her forward. It was begging her to try again, to rid the world of this evil. "I'm ready."

Odd nodded. "Ok, Jeremie. Meet us there."

-m-

They all gathered in the supercomputer room. The yellow aura of the room seemed slightly ominous. The large pillar that was the supercomputer was raised in the middle of the room. Aelita stared warily at the massive metal structure that had once held her captive. She swallowed, unsure.

Yumi placed her hand on Aelita's shoulder reassuringly. "It's alright, Aelita. We're all here for you. You don't need to be scared. If anything happens, we'll turn it right back on."

Aelita crinkled her brow. That was one of the things she was afraid of. Xana had given them all so much trouble. She was afraid that the antivirus did not work the way it was intended, that they would not be able to turn off the computer, that Xana would still be around, that they would have to continue to fight, all the while looking for another solution. She couldn't muster the courage to step forward.

"Aelita?" Jeremie asked. "Are you alright?"

She focused once more on those surrounding her, snapping back to reality and the task at hand. "Mmm, fine," she mustered from somewhere.

"Would you like to do the honor?" he offered.

While she could not wait to be free of the virtual prison, from Xana himself, she could not manage to take a step toward the machine. Its presence alone overwhelmed her. "Would you do it?" she asked hesitantly.

Jeremie nodded and took a step forward. "You can't control us anymore, Xana." He took a deep breath and placed his hand on the level. "Here we go," he whispered, flipping the switch. Suddenly, the lights on the supercomputer dimmed and faded away. The large pillar of a machine sunk back into the floor. The entire computer powered down and turned off. Jeremie turned around to face Aelita once more. Everyone's eyes were on her.

Aelita blinked and realized she had been holding her breath. She let out a sigh of relief. It was over. She smiled at the others. "He's gone, and…and I'm not. Jeremie, it, it worked." Her eyes lit up in surprise.

The others cheered and wrapped their arms around Aelita.

"We did it!" Odd shouted. "I knew you could do it, Einstein."

"Great job, Jeremie," Ulrich seconded.

"Well, I really couldn't have done it without you, Aelita," Jeremie countered.

"Excellent work, Aelita," Yumi added, squeezing her tightly.

Aelita blushed over all of the praise and love from her friends. She was floating high on their compliments. From now on, it would be her chance to have a normal life. She would no longer need to return to Lyoko. She could enjoy everything this world had to offer her: the sights, sounds, and experiences. She would become a normal teenager, with normal worries. She could focus on school and friends, rather than protecting everyone. Things were looking up. And yet, underneath the glow, something wasn't sitting quite right with her. It wasn't quite a headache, but more like a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was sort of like someone opened a can of fish. She looked around at her friends. Each one of them was smiling and excited. Yumi had her arm wrapped around Aelita. Ulrich had a genuine grin on his face, a rare occasion. Odd seemed as if he had been told that it was Christmas, New Year's, and his birthday. He was jumping up and down, pushing Ulrich in the process. Even Jeremie had a look of pure joy on his face.

"We did it, Aelita," he smiled. "You're one of us."

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

 **Hopefully, I will upload more chapters sooner than I have been.**


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